From: Jasper
Date: 27 May 2008
Time: 02:25:01 PM
Lollie – The operative word is “conflict.” Of course civility is preferable to rudeness but what about those occasions when you can’t be civil AND honest without obscuring the truth? .............. Bill Pavelic’s civility is the reason I wrote this: “Whenever I run into a conflict between honesty and “civility,” I choose honesty. ... My number one consideration and that of our veteran posters is HONESTY. Right, wrong, crude, elegant or somewhat incoherent, if it’s an honest attempt to uncover or convey the truth it’s welcome.” ..............I don’t know what you and AZCHIC where thinking when you read those words but it seems to me that both of you need to know what I was thinking when I wrote them. ...............I was thinking about some of the most abrasive people I ever worked for who combined their evaluation of my work to give me my first “Outstanding” performance review at Ford. I was also thinking about my rookie year in Ford design with the Nazi and the Klansman who put civility ahead of everything in their dealings with me. The Nazi told his buddies before I even walked into his studio, “I’m going to get that nigger.” The Klansman I worked for when Ford Personnel transferred me from the Nazi’s studio (see Killing the Goose...book cover) was very nice to everyone he dealt with face to face. When I first entered his studio he welcomed me at the door with a big smile, shook my hand and said, “Welcome aboard...I knew an ol’ boy in Indiana named Jasper. Now that was one nigger that didn’t mind working.” .................Don’t let the unkind word he used throw you; he said it in a nice way. In the year or so I worked with him, he extended me every courtesy. He even wrote a glowing “Satisfactory Plus” performance review for me, ending it with words that went something like this: “I feel that Mr. Garrison will someday be a valuable asset to the company. ..............I found out years later that “Satisfactory Plus” was two steps below mediocre in Ford Design and Engineering’s performance review system. One step below mediocre was Excellent Minus. Mediocre was Excellent. At some point, the Excellent Minus rating was dropped, so that Satisfactory Plus was only one step below mediocre. At any rate, the effect of a Satisfactory Plus performance review was to label you “guilty of incompetence.” It wouldn’t get you fired because it meant that you might “someday be a valuable asset to the company.” You just weren’t there, yet. .............Ford Personnel’s official reason for using this deceptive performance review system was to spare less competent stylists, modelers, draftsmen, and engineers hard feelings. The practical effect, of course, was to mask how workers in these areas were really being evaluated for purposes of pay raises and promotions. .............If civility is an indicator of character these people are saints. –Jasper